1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device and method for the automatic counting of medical gauze—more specifically, to a device and method which can automatically count medical gauze used for absorbing blood and other body fluids generated during surgical operations.
2. Description of Related Art
Blood and other body fluids generated during surgical operations should be removed frequently. Typically, blood and other body fluids are removed using medical gauze; thus, medical gauze is absolutely necessary for surgical operations.
Medical gauze used in surgical operations must be removed from the body without fail. However, there are frequently occasions when medical gauze is accidentally left in the body. In this case, the patient is forced to undergo an unnecessary operation to remove the gauze and as a result, the surgeon and hospital are often involved in lawsuits for medical negligence. Therefore, there have been many attempts at creating methods to prevent medical gauze from being left in the body.
As part of such efforts, the IFPN (International Federation of Perioperative Nurses) declared in its 2006 guidelines that the perioperative nurses and circulating nurses should collect and count medical gauze in multiples of five and record such counts before, during, and after each surgical operation. In medical circles, gauze is currently hand-counted based on the IFPN's guidelines. However, counting the used medical gauze manually creates numerous potential problems. For example, the person counting the gauze is exposed to risk of infection, such as AIDS and hepatitis, while handling the contaminated gauze, and/or the count may be not performed accurately due to human error.
In order to solve such problems, various techniques—for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,948,390, 4,354,490, 4,784,267, 4,832,198 and 5,658,077—have been suggested to attempt to provide a system in which the gauze is arranged in such a way as to be easily counted or seen. According to these techniques, accuracy in counting the gauze may be increased, but since the counting is still performed by hand, such techniques are not comprehensive solutions to the aforementioned problems.
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 5,629,498 suggests an apparatus for counting the gauze that involves dropping the gauze into the apparatus one by one. However, since the insertion of the gauze is still performed manually, the apparatus does not eliminate the potential for human error.
Finally, in U.S. Pat. No. 7,465,847 and U.S. Patent Publication No. 20050049563, various other gauze detection techniques are discussed. However, these techniques are simply to detect whether medical gauze remains in the body, and do not include techniques to count the gauze through an automated process.